POST: "The politicians don'ÂÂt listen to what we say. Let's do something about it."

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- An Eltingville resident concerned with rising tolls and taxes and the impact of the New York Wheel project has launched a long-shot, independent bid for mayor.

"I never wanted to be in politics," said Michael Post, 51, a longtime city Department of Environmental Protection employee. "But everybody I know is so despondent about taxes going up. And the politicians don't listen to what we say. Let's do something about it."

Post was born in Brooklyn and moved to Eltingville in 1994.

An unaffiliated voter, Post acknowledged that getting on the ballot is going to be tough. He needs 7,500 signatures and right now has just four volunteers helping him with the task.

"It's a lot of signatures," he said, "but I'm still giving it a shot."

Looking at issues, Post, a sewage treatment worker, said he deems the New York Wheel project and its attendant outlet mall complex in St. George "the worst idea in the world."

He said the outlet mall would "damage local businesses. I don't believe in these big corporations."

And Post is skeptical of the purported economic windfall for the Island.

"The area's so congested already," he said. "The traffic that the project will bring will be beyond belief."

He said that nascent Freshkills Park might be a better place for the Wheel.

"It's next to the highway," Post said, "and we'd be able to draw in people from New Jersey."

He said that leaving Freshkills as a park alone would be a "waste of money," and suggested that an amusement park could be built there.

Like many another Islander, Post is concerned about ever-escalating tolls. He called upon the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Port Authority to open their books so New Yorkers can see the agencies' true financial condition.

He also backs giving the mayor and City Council control of the city's bridges and tunnels because those officials answer directly to the voters.

But Post knows he faces an uphill battle making his voice heard in the campaign.